Klarinet Archive - Posting 000485.txt from 2001/02

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] beginning student
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 08:14:48 -0500

--- Jennifer Brinkley <jenib_kkyeiu@-----.com> wrote:

> Having never really taught a beginner, I am running into difficulties, the most
> important being tone production. She can sometimes get the note out, only for
> about a second.

Producing a tone is clearly about as "ground level" as you can get in the
process of learning how to play an instrument. Sometimes you have to just
loosen everything up -- shake out the cobwebs -- before you're ready to focus
on specific issues. Since producing a tone on the clarinet involves blowing,
have your student do just that...with total abandon. She needs to realize
that the air is what it's all about. With no commentary or explanation or
preparation of any kind, have her put the mouthpiece in her mouth (attached
to the clarinet, not just the mouthpiece) -- intentionally too far, such that
she's guaranteed to honk. Tell her to take a big fat breath of air and...(in-
hale) BLOW! She should squawk like a pregnant condor (assuming condors make
sounds) -- the louder and more obnoxious the better, because that means her
lips are loose and she's blowing with ease. The physical experience of pro-
ducing a tone in this manner will educate her very quickly, and completely
intuitively, that she has to relax her lips (i.e.; not bite) and use her
air to make a sound on the instrument. Have her do it a couple of times,
squawking away for a few seconds at a time, perhaps even wiggling her fing-
ers around a bit for some fun. If she chuckles, all the better -- playing
the clarinet is supposed to be fun. This having been accomplished, you can
then tell her to take in a normal amount of mouthpiece and, using a little
less air, blow again, on a throat G. If she doesn't produce a nice full
forte G, remind her to let the air do the work and relax her lips. Come
back to the free-blowing squawk if necessary to illustrate that the reed
must be free to vibrate and the air must be substantial to compel that vi-
bration. You can address support and focus and all of those other technical
goodies over the next ten years. Once she starts to consider the air first
in her conceptual hierarchy of how to play the clarinet, she's well on her
way.

-- Neil

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